Regulars with the Champion Racing Association view visiting Sprint Cup driver
Kyle Busch as another competitor but they also want to bring their ‘A’ game to
the competition.

Busch has been the dominant driver in NASCAR’s top three divisions since
switching from the Hendricks Motorsports team to Joe Gibbs Racing, but he has
become a regular at CRA super late model events.

The Nevada native scored his first CRA win earlier this year in Georgia,
finished fifth at Berlin Raceway and will be making his third start with the
traveling series in the Red Bud 300 presented by Great Deals Magazine at
Anderson Speedway on Tuesday.

Angola driver Scott Hantz, a two-time CRA champion, said the reason he traveled
to Michigan last week was to compete against Busch.

“You want to beat him,” Hantz said of Busch. “You watch him on television and
he’s beating everybody in the country. I just want to beat him, that’s why I
came here.”

During the late stages of the ‘Rowdy Busch 125’ at Berlin Raceway, Hantz and
Busch were racing three-wide for position entering the first corner at the
7/16ths mile D-shaped oval.

Both drivers have a lot of faith and respect for each other when racing side by
side, according to Hantz.

“We’re not going to wreck each other,” he said. “We’re giving each other hand
signals. We just race hard and want to finish.”

Hantz said the Red Bud 300 should be an excellent race.

“There’s the halfway break and you can change four tires,” he said. “Those teams
that take only two tires or no tires will start in front of those taking four
tires. There are a lot of guys that haven’t raced at Anderson for a long time,
so it should be an interesting race.”

Michigan driver Johnny Van Doorn, the 2007 CRA rookie of the year, said the team
focuses on their own car and treat Busch as another competitor.

“I know he’s on the same playing field, the rules are the same for everyone,” he
said. “If you feel intimidated by him, you’ve already lost the race.”

Van Doorn believes the CRA regulars will have an advantage at Anderson because
of their experience at the high-banked quarter-mile oval.

“When you go to Anderson you want to be smooth,” he said. “It will be a long
race and stuff happens fast on a quarter-mile track. There’s a little advantage
because you know things happen fast.”

Adam Purdy is providing former Anderson 400 winner Harold Fair with a ride for
the Red Bud 300.

“I don’t like the shorter tracks,” Purdy said, “I like running at places like
Winchester. It is fun to run there (Anderson). You can bury it into the corner
because of the banking and the car will stick.”

Purdy said on the racetrack Busch is just another car to compete against.

“All the fans like coming out and getting his (Busch) autograph,” he said. “It’s
a big promotion. I thank him for coming out, but in the pits there are 20 others
that want the same thing, run good and maybe get the win.”